From the shadows into the light
by Maverick1986
Summary: The year is 1995 once again Salem and Rios find themselves in the war torn country of Somali except this time the pair makes a decision that will change their relationship forever. Slash/Yaoi--Mature content in last chapter
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer**__: None of the characters from the AoT universe belong to me. They belong to their respective owners._

_**Special note to readers:**_

_You will notice that this story includes original characters in addition to the established ones in the AoT universe. The purpose of these original characters is to flesh the story out more so keep this in mind when they are introduced. _

**From the shadows into the light**

**CHAPTER 1**

**Somalia, March 1995**

In the safety of a former peacekeeping base that had long been abandoned and transformed into a Security and Strategy Corporation (SSC) operational infrastructure six sweaty men exited from the aircraft hangar. Four of the six were contractors with SSC. One was a pilot while the other three were hired guns whose job was to protect the other two men, a prominent journalist and his cameraman.

The journalist's name was Roger Davis. Davis was a middle aged man with salt and pepper colored hair who had been born and raised in a small town in the Midwest with traditional small town values. He had relocated to New York City more than twenty-five years ago in the pursuit of a career in journalism. In order to prove to his colleges that he had just as much edge and worldliness as them he'd made a career and name for himself by going to remote and often dangerous places throughout the world chasing down stories.

The news worthy event that brought him to Somali was the United Nations Operation in Somali II (UNISOM II) troop departure from the Somali conflict. Covering the story earlier in the day had gone rather smoothly. He had successful gotten several interviews, photos, and footage of the whole event. He was rather pleased with himself and grinning uncontrollably.

While he was doing this the other men set about to following their usual routines. For the contractors this was to properly store their weapons, remove their heavy tactical gear, shower, and change for dinner. Davis' cameraman followed a similar pattern. He put his gear safely way, cleaned up, and changed. This was where the similarities ended since the cameraman was the one who made dinner nightly. This worked out well for everyone since conveniently enough he happened to be a real talent in the kitchen and was all too eager to showcase his skills by putting together some pretty good eats for everyone.

After dinner everyone would spend their free time doing whatever it was that relaxed them.

Normally for Elliot Salem one of Davis' hired guns this would be to bond with the other men over a game of cards while sharing and listening to personal stories; however, today was different. Today he choose to sit alone in the empty dining facility at one of the lunch tables located on the edge of the room with his legs and feet outstretched on the bench while having an evening snack, a bologna and cheese sandwich on white bread.

The familiar taste of the bologna sandwich had him reflecting back on certain aspects of his life. Elliot had never known his father; his mother was a single parent trying hard to raise three boys who were always either in trouble at school or causing mischief in the neighborhood. Being that she was either working all the time to support them or cleaning up their messes, she barely had time to make a lot of home cooked meals so bologna sandwiches were constantly on the menu since they were easy to make and bologna was pretty cheap.

Back in those days he dreaded having to eat bologna sandwiches day after day. He would've given anything to be able to have more home cooked meals or a menu with more variety like the middle class kids he attended school with, but it never happened. One thing that being a former U.S. Army Ranger and now a private military contractor had taught him was an appreciation for bologna sandwiches. Sometimes when he was away on missions in foreign lands whose names he could neither spell nor pronounce freezing, or burning up, and consuming less calories than he'd prefer to consume per day he longed for those bologna sandwiches.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the heavy dining hall doors being pushed open and someone else entering the room. The familiar sounds of the person's heavy footsteps went from the entrance of the dining hall to approaching Elliot from behind. He didn't have to look to know who it was.

"What's up Tyse?"

"Not much." Tyson said before adding. "So you're in here eating another bologna sandwich.

"Yeah, they rule," Elliot simply stated.

Tyson snickered at his response as he walked around the other side of the table and planted himself across from Elliot.

Once he was seated there he did nothing but stare in silence at Elliot for a while before he spoke. "I've been trying to figure it out for awhile now."

"Figure it out," Elliot repeated as his eyebrows came together and he studied the older, swarthy man confused by Tyson's strange statement.

"Yeah, we make so much more money working for SSC than we ever did when we were in the Army yet regardless of how much money we make you always seem to be broke," Tyson said in slight humor.

"Yeah, but at least I have a lot fun." Elliot replied playfully.

"I suppose you do," Tyson sighed as he shook his head a worried look settling over his face.

"You don't have to worry about me," Elliot tried to assure him. "It's only a matter of time before I come out of this debt."

"Maybe you need to cut back on some things," Tyson suggested. "Perhaps the gambling, the partying, or the drinking."

"I told you already, you don't have to worry about me," Elliot snapped the annoyance showing clearly on his face and in his tone.

Even though Tyson wasn't happy with this response he decided to back off.

Once again the heavy doors to the dining hall were pushed open breaking the uncomfortable silence that had settled in the room between Elliot and Tyson. Neither bothered to see who was entering the room since neither cared.

Michael Williams another one of Davis' hired guns entered the dimly lit dining hall. He noted that his presence hadn't even garnered a response from his fellow SSC operatives whom he'd dubbed Ellison which was a combination of the two men's first names. He did this since they seemed inseparable. They also appeared be unusually close, almost like brothers. They could tease and insult one another all day and all night and then turn around in an instant and offer advice, support, or be fiercely protective of one another.

Casually he strolled to the table where they were sitting. The younger member of Ellison appeared to have just finished an evening snack while the older one was just sitting at the table neither eating nor doing anything else of significance a look of concern on his face.

Williams didn't have anytime to find out what the look on the older member of Ellison's face was all about. He had important news to share with the men. News he was certain wouldn't set well with either man, but the information had to be shared regardless of the outcome.

"There's good and bad news." Williams announced after reaching the two men. "Which do you care to hear?"

"The bad," the two replied in unison as they focused their attention on him.

"Tomorrow morning we will accompany Mr. Davis into Mogadishu so that he can film the conditions there."

"Are you shittin' me?" The younger half of Ellison asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, that's probably not a wise move right now." The older one added. "Things are already pretty unstable out there and not having the other foreign troops around isn't gonna make things any easier."

"Believe me gentlemen I know how you feel," Williams said earnestly. "I tried to talk him out of it, but the man won't budge. He's convinced that covering this will conclude his piece on Somalia."

"Yeah, it just might if we all get killed," The younger half of Ellison replied spitting the words out in disgust.

William's frowned at the younger man's reaction. He rightly concluded that Elliot was still young and relatively new to SSC. Elliot hadn't even been with the company for five years yet so he wasn't aware of all the dangerous and sometimes stupid jobs that many of the contractors had taken part in to complete a mission. A long time ago Williams had learned to adapt to it and respond to it with a smile since getting angry about the situation never solved anything.

"I'm gonna contact Dalton and let him know about this shit," The younger half of Ellison said angrily as he abruptly got up from his seat and stormed out of the dining hall.

"So what's the good news?" The older half of Ellison asked.

"If we're successful out there tomorrow than all of our pockets will be a little heavier from the substantial bonus we'll be paid," Williams said with a toothy smile revealing his porcelain white teeth.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter**** 2**

A few seconds after leaving the dining facility Elliot sped to the communications room of the base. Once there he angrily pushed the door open causing it to bang up against the interior wall. Unconcerned with this he proceeded to enter the room, turn the dial of base station to the correct radio frequency so that he could speak to Alice Murray the SSC mission coordinator. Once he was on the correct frequency he firmly held the microphone in his hand and spoke.

"Alice, get me a secure line with Richard Dalton, now," he demanded.

"Um, sure I'll do that. You mind telling me what's wrong?" She asked in a concerned tone.

"Yeah, this fucking journalist we're protecting wants us to go into Mog tomorrow so he can do some filming."

"What?" She asked in disbelief. "I can't believe he thinks he can safely just go about interviewing people in a place that has no national government and that happens to be in the middle of a civil war. Doesn't he realize how dangerous it is to stick around especially now that the other foreign forces have withdrawn?"

"It gets better. Apparently, I'm the only guy who has the balls to talk to Dalton about this shit," Elliot said bluntly, almost callously.

"Hang on Elliot, I'm putting you through to Dalton," Alice said her voice still full of concern.

Speaking with Richard Dalton who happened to be their commanding officer about the craziness of Davis' request was surprisingly neither meet with outrage or criticism. Instead Dalton had ordered Elliot to work with the rest of the SSC contractors in continuing to protect Davis and too also guard him while he carried out his naively fearless plan in Mogadishu.

Angered by this order Elliot marched into the sleeping quarters of the barracks. There he spotted Tyson sitting on the edge of his cot.

Tyson took one look at Elliot before speaking, "I guess your conversation with Dalton didn't go too well."

"No it didn't," Elliot angrily confirmed. I can't believe Dalton's okay with this."

Tyson just cracked his thickly muscled neck from one side and then the other before proceeding to strip down to his t-shirt and boxers. He had no visible reaction to anything Elliot had just said, this bothered Elliot a great deal.

"I can't believe you have nothing to say about this," Elliot said determined to get Tyson to join him in discussing the matter.

Tyson just lay down on his cot and stared at the ceiling before adding, "Part of functioning well tomorrow is dependent on us being well rested and calm."

"Yeah, well fuck you too!" Elliot exclaimed.

"Look I don't like things any more than you," Tyson said calmly before adding. "While you were off bitchin' to Dalton about the situation Williams laid out tomorrow's plans."

"So what are the plans," Elliot demanded not even bothering to hide the growing frustration in his voice.

"Well, no one wants to chance losing the bird unnecessarily, since it's our ticket outta here. Plus no one wants to scare or panic anyone by having a gunship flying around so you'll head into the city via humvee with Williams, Davis, and the camera guy."

"Brilliant," Elliot muttered more so to himself than Tyson.

"Phillip Clyde and I will provide…"

At the mention of Clyde's name Elliot cut Tyson off. "Wait bro, are you talking about the same asshole we worked with the last time we were in Somalia?"

Tyson nodded.

"You mean the same guy who risked our lives and made us do all the work?" Elliot asked the contempt and anger in his voice going unchecked.

"Yeah, that guy."

"Out-fucking-standing," Elliot replied sarcastically as he moved to the task of undressing in the dimly lit room. He used the little bit of moonlight that shone in from the windows to guide him.

Tyson glanced over from the peeling paint of the dingy ceiling over to his young, incredibly pissed off friend. Elliot was naked from the waist up. The moon's light illuminated his tanned, physically fit body much to Tyson's delight. He wasn't quite sure why watching Elliot in this state excited him so much.

In fact he wasn't sure of a lot of things lately as they related to Elliot. Why did he care so much anyway if the younger man was struggling financially? It wasn't like Elliot's bad financial decisions impacted his lifestyle at all. Tyson would still be able to pay his mortgage, his car note, and all of his other important bills regardless if Elliot was down to his last dollar or not and yet it personally bothered him the way the younger man spent his money so recklessly.

Even more disturbing than his concern for the way Elliot spent money was the fact that Elliot was starting to look less and less like just another one of his buddies. Tyson noticed that Elliot was actually attractive. He liked the way the long bangs of Elliot's shaggy hairstyle would cover his right eye. He liked the way his voice sounded, the way he smiled, even his form was agreeable to Tyson.

Hell Tyson wasn't gay and he certainly wasn't bisexual. Yet he felt an uncontrollable attraction to Elliot that had been growing for a very long time. They were already closer than brothers. Their day-to-day decisions put one another's lives in each other's hands. They had faced similar challenges and overcome them together, starved together, laughed together, passed the time together, and been shot at all over the world. They had the same kind of bond that most soldiers who spent a great deal of time together developed and yet at the same time theirs was different. Somewhere along the line something had changed. He had unwittingly fallen in love.

Disturbed by this unwelcome truth Tyson forced himself to tear his eyes away from Elliot's wonton form. Once again he tried to clear his mind so that he could sleep. Having a well rested body would aid him in preparing for the dangerous mission they had ahead of them which was going to be complicated even more by Clyde's unwelcomed inclusion.

Just what the hell was Clyde doing in Somalia again anyway he wondered? Whatever, his purpose for being here was it couldn't have been good and now Clyde was supposedly going to aid them. If his help was anything like the assistance that he provided the last time they worked together, then they were all pretty much on their own.

While thinking about this potential problem his mind drifted back to Elliot. He didn't dare turn to look at Elliot it was far too dangerous. Instead he listened to the sound of Elliot's bare feet moving across the flooring. Elliot's steps indicated that he was leaving the sleeping quarters and heading to the bathroom. There he heard Elliot drop his tube of tooth paste, curse under his breath, pick it up, turn on the sink, then busy himself with the task of brushing his teeth.

While Elliot was doing this the others all entered the sleeping quarters at roughly the same time. They were talking about something that was of no interest to Tyson before they began the noisy process of preparing for bed. Heavy boots were tossed onto the floor without care, the sounds of people unbuttoning and unzipping various things filled the room before they eventually got onto their cots where someone tossed and turned restlessly.

"Well, yippie ki yea, this is turning out to be a fabulous night," Tyson mumbled in the darkness to himself as he realized it was going to be a long night since he ears seemed to be picking up every little sound and his mind was alert.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter ****3**

1000 hrs

The sun relentlessly beat down on Tyson Rios as he frantically made another call over the radio to Williams and Elliot. Both men were still unresponsive. It was clear something had gone wrong. Something had gone terribly wrong. The whole situation was unnerving to Tyson especially since he had heard some yelling, lots of gunfire, and an explosion, but he was unable to determine if anyone was hit since the radio had transmitted back to him the sounds of far too many things happening all at once.

Tyson continued to stand at the entrance of the Continental Hotel which interestingly enough was not just the rendezvous point it was also the place where Elliot and Tyson had worked together with Phillip Clyde for the first time back when they were still Army Rangers. The building had many scars from their last encounter. Part of the building were Mo' Alim had blown himself up at was gone while the rest of the building was pock-marked by ammunition and mortar fire.

Tyson squinted in the bright sunlight as he continued to stare in the distance for any sign of Elliot or the others. The only movement outside on the street were three, young children who couldn't have been any older than six kicking around a volleyball and giggling.

Nervously Tyson held onto the pistol grip of his Ak-47 and continued to stare outside the exterior of the building. There was still no sign of the others and he knew that he couldn't afford to waste anymore time standing around doing absolutely nothing.

"I've waited long enough. I'm gonna find out what happened," Tyson told Alice over the radio.

"Your orders from Dalton are to stay put," Alice said. Her voice was stern.

"Yeah, I know, but this time I can't comply," Tyson said as calmly as he could manage into his throat mic. In reality he was panicking. He was much more concerned about Elliot's safety than his own fate for failing to follow orders.

"Believe me I know how you feel," Alice said her tone lightening up a bit. "But Dalton wants you to wait for Clyde so that you guys can look for the others together."

"Fuck Clyde," was all Tyson said before he cut-off his radio and helmet camera before cautiously making his way outside of the hotel gun at the ready.

When the kids spotted him they froze like little statues. They watched him approach terrified as their ball rolled off behind an abandoned car which was missing all of its wheels. He imagined that he most look like some kind of monster to the kids since his face was shielded behind his black metallic skull like face mask. It probably didn't help the matter that he was also an armed foreigner.

He briefly stopped to show the kids he meant them no harm. He lifted up his face mask and forced a smile. The kids saw through his fake smile and remained where they stood still with fear on their faces. Giving up on this tactic he focused again on what he needed to do. He pulled his face mask down again and set about to the task of heading to where the other's last transmission came from.

A hard slap to the face wakened Elliot from darkness. Instantly he looked around to see where the slap had originated from. To his surprise he noticed that he was in a small dimly lit room with Phillip Clyde squatting down in front of him so that they were both eye to eye.

Immediately Elliot tried to take a defensive stance, but realized that he couldn't move. He was expertly tied to a chair. His hands were bound together behind the chair and both of his legs were also tightly tied to the legs of the chair. He also noticed that he was missing most of his gear which included his protective face mask, guns, grenades, ammo, knife, first aid kit, and radio equipment.

"What the fucks going on?" He asked angrily.

"You should be grateful," Clyde said has he stood up his eyes still on Elliot. "I saved your worthless ass from an angry mob."

Elliot frowned as he thought back to the events that lead to his black out. Williams had parked the Humvee on the side of the road in front of an abandoned shop. Eagerly Davis and his cameraman had exited the vehicle without fear. Not too long after they had exited the humvee Elliot had gotten out and glanced around the place for any signs of dangers. Nothing looked particularly threatening.

"Why don't we head over there," Davis had suggested as he pointed in the distance to a woman wearing a Jilbab with a Burqa that obscured her entire face save for her fetching eyes. She was holding a young child's hand.

"Fine, you wait here. I'll go and secure the area," Williams said.

"Nonsense," Davis replied. "What are a woman and a little boy going to do?" He asked has he eagerly walked off towards the woman with his camera guy trailing behind him.

"Get your ass back here," Williams ordered.

Davis continued to ignore him as he picked up the pace and waved to the woman a smile on his wrinkled face.

Immediately Williams tackled him roughly against a nearby wall and shook him roughly a couple of times.

"While we're out here, you do exactly what I say, got it!" he said angrily. "One false move out here could get us all killed."

Davis just blinked a couple of times as he stared at Williams dumfounded.

Meanwhile during the few seconds that this commotion was going on the camera guy stupidly continued to stand out in the open as if he was standing in a safe place and not a war torn country. He held his camera down on his right side were he aimlessly tapped it against his upper thigh.

"Hey man," Elliot called to the camera guy.

The man turned to look at him from two weary green eyes.

"Don't stand out in the open. The area's not secure," Elliot warned.

As Elliot spoke these words a couple of gunshots suddenly sounded and a couple of red spots appeared on the chest area of the cameraman's beige polo shirt. His lips formed an o-shape, but no words escaped from his mouth as he dropped his camera. It fell to the ground, the lens shattered on impact. The cameraman stared down at the blood spots on his chest with a horrified expression on his sunburned face when another gunshot sounded. This time brains and skull splattered out of the front of his head and he fell backwards onto the dusty road in a bloody heap.

"Holy shit!" Elliot exclaimed out of disbelief at what had just happened as he instinctively took cover behind the humvee and peered out to see who was shooting. To his surprise a mob of armed people seemed to appear out of nowhere. The mob consisted of men. Some were on the roof tops of nearby buildings armed to the teeth with various weapons while others where inside a couple of nearby buildings. After taking out the camera guy they started firing on his position and at Williams and Davis.

Just as he was about to return fire he noticed a guy perched on a nearby roof top with a grenade launcher. Quickly he dived from behind the humvaee just as the guy fired a rocket which hit the humvee destroying it instantly.

"Shit," Elliot muttered as he took cover in the closest building.

After a few seconds he dared a glance outside of the unframed window of the building to find out what had became of Williams and Davis. Too his horror William's had used his body as a shield to protect Davis and had paid dearly for his heroics with his life. Horrified Davis took shelter inside the building that he had previously been tackled on.

"Stupid fucking journalist!" Elliot yelled as he fired at the people who had killed Williams. To his delight he connected with a lot of the people leaving them either seriously wounded or dead. While this was a good start he knew that he still had lots more to do if he was going to get to Davis and save the man's worthless butt.

After successfully getting off several rounds Elliot immediately crouched down and pressed himself against the wall in anticipation of them returning fire but nothing happened. When a couple of seconds became a few minutes his curiosity got the better of him. He dared another peak out of the window to see what was going on. To his surprise there was no movement outside and the people he had wounded were dead along with several people he hadn't even shot at.

"The hell," he said as he cautiously headed outside of the building for a closer inspection.

Everything was eerily quiet and still save for the sounds of the humvee burning and the woman with the child in the distance screaming something he couldn't understand in her native tongue. She was clearly badly shaken by the whole experience.

What could've happened he wondered as he slowly made his way towards one of the fallen enemy. As he looked down at some of the downed men he could tell that their deaths hadn't come from either bullet wound or even a grenade but was instead caused by lethal hand-to-hand combat. Whoever's handiwork this was extremely fast and skilled.

He only knew of one person that was skilled enough to pull off such feat in a matter of seconds and that was Phillip Clyde. Knowing that Clyde was in the area didn't put him at easy though. It only made him even wearier. There was just something about the guy's behavior and personality that didn't set well with him.

He figured he'd deal with it later. The important thing now was for him to make sure that Davis was still alive. He cautiously made his way over to the building that Davis had sought refuge in. When he reached the entrance of the building he noticed that the door was missing its handle so he slowly pushed it open from the middle portion. As the door slowly creaked open he readied himself to shoot at anything or anyone that appeared threatening.

Surprisingly enough there was nothing out of the ordinary. Davis was on the dirty floor bawling like a baby while repeating the words, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Just as Elliot was about to report back to Alice and the others something or rather someone struck him in the back of the head and he went down hard face first.

As Elliot now sat face-to-face with Clyde it became clear to him who had knocked him out. This realization made Elliot wild with anger. He could not contain his emotions as he blurted out the words, "Motherfucker you knocked me out," while his blue eyes smoldered with anger.

At this accusation a huge smile crept across Clyde's face. He continued to smile eerily like this for a couple of seconds before speaking in a seemingly forced courteous tone, "You should be grateful I saved your worthless ass from an angry mob," Clyde said repeating his earlier statement.

"Huh, funny you should say that since I don't recall needing your help," Elliot replied defiantly.

Clyde's response was a steely gaze.

"Tell me why you knocked me out," Elliot demanded.

"I came to save the liberal journalist when I noticed you fucking things up."

"Whatever man," Elliot snapped backed. "Just tell me where the Hells Davis?"

"He's safe. Don't worry your pretty little head," Clyde replied with silken menace.

"Great, now untie me asshole," Elliot said in tone a couple of notches from yelling, which he wanted to avoid doing since he didn't want to give their position away to any potential enemies who might still be in the area.

"Nah, I don't think so," Clyde said as he moved so that he was standing behind Elliot. Once there he roughly put both of his hands on Elliot's shoulders before asking. "Do you know what pisses me off?"

"Hmm, let me think," Elliot paused before adding. "Could it be getting up every morning and realizing that you're still the same asshole that you were the day before?"

Clyde responded by taking a large handful of Elliot's brown hair into his hands and using it to snap Elliot's neck back hard so that he was forced to look up at Clyde.

"Fuck," Elliot cried out in pain.

"I hate working with incompetent people." Clyde said smiling at the pained expression on Elliot's face.

"Let go," Elliot commanded through clenched teeth.

"You don't give the orders," Clyde said his grip tightening causing even more pain to emit from Elliot's scalp.

Elliot fell quite since he didn't want to give the unstable Clyde a reason to harm him any further though the rage was visible on his handsome young face.

"Now that we got that clear here's what's gonna happen. "I'm gonna take all the credit for rescuing Davis and getting him safely out of the country. He released his grip on Elliot's hair, and then added. "You on the other hand, you'll sit here and hope that your boyfriend saves you before someone who knows the people I killed finds you and has their revenge."

"Why would you leave me tied up like this? Elliot dared asking. "We're on the same side jackass."

Clyde curled up his lip in disgust, "You and me we're not on the same side. Hell, we don't even play for the same team. Ya see I'm a soldier and you-you're just a fag boy playing dress-up."

"Sonnova bitch," Elliot blurted out angrily. He didn't appreciate being described like that especially since he worked just as hard as Clyde and risked just as much as him every mission. Plus he had deliberately taken steps to mask anything about his behavior that might be perceived as gay commencing when he joined a neighborhood gang in his teens, through his days in the army, to his time now as a contractor with SSC. The reason for this deception was simple he had no desire to deal with the same lack of respect, hate, violence, or potential job discrimination that he'd seen more than his fair share of openly gay men or those perceived as gay faced. In fact he was so determined not to deal with these potential issues that he never allowed himself to get emotionally connected to his former sexual partners. He even failed to be honest about this part of his life with Tyson, a man that he was closer to than any of his blood brothers or anyone else for fear of rejection and violence. This one moment with Clyde seem to shatter all the sexual aanonymity that he thought he had achieved through the years.

"Bye now," Clyde said with a wink as he left the room closing the door behind him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Forty-five minuets after beginning his search Tyson came across the humvee. It was immediately clear that there had been a serious fire fight. The remains of the humvee were engulfed by hot, angry flames. Empty bullet casing were scattered about nearby along with the lifeless bodies of several Somalis, but still there was no sign of Elliot, Williams, Davis, or the cameraman.

Tyson swallowed audibly as the muscles in his abs tightened. The uncertainty of not knowing their fate really bothered him. Had they survived? Were they being held somewhere as hostages? While all of these unanswered questioned were buzzing around in his head one reoccurring thought kept entering his mind. What if Elliot was dead? The possibility of never seeing Elliot alive again was really upsetting to him. He had no ideal how he would continue on without him. The guy had become a very important part of his life.

"Tyse over here," Elliot called from somewhere close by completely taking Tyson off guard since he had allowed his mind to consider the worst outcome, so it surprised him to hear Elliot sounding so lively.

Quickly Tyson glanced around the nearby buildings until he spotted Elliot from a window on the 2nd floor of a shop. Cautiously, Tyson entered the building thoroughly checking the place for threats before heading up the stairs. His heart in his throat the whole time as he went from room to room looking for the one person he desired most in the whole world.

When he opened the last door at the end of the hall what he saw caused a huge smile to engulf his face. Elliot was alive! He was sweaty and tied to a chair that he had maneuvered over to the window.

"Thank god you're here," Elliot said with a smile.

Tyson was silent as he effortlessly lifted the chair with Elliot still tied firmly to it up and moved it away from the window. It was a safety precaution just in case an armed person or group of people passed by outside. He didn't want to give them an easy target.

With Elliot safely way from the window Tyson knelt down in front of him. Their eyes met in a long gaze that Tyson interpreted as an invitation so he did something that he'd wanted to do for a very long time. He planted a kiss on his partner's soft lips as he wrapped his arms around him feeling the rough fabric of the tactical vest against his bare hands.

"I wasn't sure if you were alive," he said as he took in Elliot's reaction to the kiss. To his surprise and delight Elliot didn't show any signs of disgust nor did he protest. Instead he had a look of bewilderment on his face which quickly melted away as he leaned forward opening his mouth allowing for another much more intimate kiss. Tyson complied as he probed Elliot's warm, wet mouth with his tongue. Their kissing was deep and long. The two men stayed like this awhile before Tyson moved to striping away his ballistic collar so that the younger man's neck was exposed. Once Elliot's neck was exposed Tyson set about gently kissing and licking it.

Elliot let out a pleased moan before speaking, "How about untying me bro? This position is really not that comfortable."

"Uh, right," Tyson said breathing out the words since his lips were still firmly planted against Elliot's neck.

As Tyson took out his knife and cut way Elliot's bonds he asked, "Who did this?"

"Clyde did."

"What?" Tyson asked in astonishment since this was not the answer he was expecting. He knew that Clyde couldn't be trusted but this was something he certainly hadn't anticipated.

"Yeah that rotten bastard tied me up and took Davis."

Tyson looked at him a long moment before asking, "What about the others?"

"They're dead."

Tyson blinked in utter disbelief. "But there weren't any bodies."

"Clyde must've taken them."

Tyson shook his head as he mouthed the words, "That's a damn shame. Williams was a good guy and that cameraman was pretty cool too."

"I know," Elliot replied quietly.

Tyson sighed before adding, "None of that matters now," as he gazed fondly at the younger man thankful that Elliot was still alive. "We just gotta get back to the rendezvous point. Once there we'll have Rhodes fly us outta here."

"Great, how 'bout giving me a weapon it'll make the trip back there a lot easier."

"Here," Tyson said as he handed Elliot a Beretta and some ammo. Now that Elliot was armed he proceeded to talk to Alice over the radio, "Alice, come in this is Rios."

Alice responded fairly quickly, "Alice here. Did you find Elliot?" She asked the fear present in her voice.

"Yeah, I did."

She let out a long sigh of relief before saying, "I'm glad. Clyde's contacted SSC to let them know he has Davis and the bodies of Williams and that camera guy. Damnit, I can't remember his name."

"Don't sweat it too much Alice. Davis was the only one who knew it. The guy's first and last names were both something really long and hard to pronounce and he rejected every nickname we gave him."

There was a brief pause before Alice responded, "It's kinda sad," she said sorrow in her voice. "To think you guys spent so much time together and only Davis knew his name."

Tyson changed the subject, "Did Clyde say anything else?"

"Yeah, he also said that he got separated from Elliot and didn't know if he was still alive or not."

Tyson clenched his fist at this piece of information. Silently he vowed that he'd kick Clyde's ass the next time their paths crossed.

Once he was able to regain his composure he spoke to Alice again, "Hey, Alice, have Rhodes meet us at the rendezvous point in an hour.

"Okay," she replied. "But aren't you just a little curious about knowing what Dalton thinks of you disobeying orders."

"Tell me all about later," Tyson said as he turned his radio off again not bothering to wait for a response from Alice. He had other things on his mind. Things he could no longer push to the furthest corners of his mind.

"An hour?" Elliot asked a puzzled look on his face. "Bro it won't take us anymore than 30 minutes to get to the Continental hotel."

"I know," Tyson replied with a mischievous wink.

"Oh, I see," Elliot responded with a wide grin. "I bet if we haul ass we can reduce that time by ten minutes and then…" He didn't finish the rest of his sentence. He left the endless possibilities up to Tyson's imagination.

Just as Elliot had calculated by picking up the pace it only took the pair 20 minutes to arrive at the Continental Hotel. Once there they secured the place. After they were certain that the place was safe they took shelter on the 2nd floor of one of the badly damaged rooms that appeared somewhat stable.

A few seconds after this Tyson found himself frantically kissing Elliot and fumbling with the task of taking off Elliot's Rhodesian vest while Elliot was engaged in releasing him from his heavy tactical gear. When they finally had both of their upper bodies naked and free they found themselves pressed sweaty chest to sweaty chest as they continued to kiss one another urgently.

While breathing heavily into Tyson's mouth Elliot made a request, "I want you to fuck me."

"Man, you are outta your mind," Tyson replied. "This ain't exactly the Ritz Carlton this is a fucked up hotel in Somali."

"I don't care," Salem said as he slowly moved his right hand down Tyson's muscular chest and rock-hard abs. He moved his hand down to Tyson crotch were he proceeded to rub his hard cock through the fabric of his clothes.

This bit of coaxing was all Tyson needed to convince him that this moment alone with Elliot was worth the risk.

Elliot took a few backward steps from Tyson. He then began to unfasten his belt buckle, followed by unbuttoning and unzipping his pants. He slowly slid his pants along with his white briefs down to his ankles revealing his nicely trimmed pubic hair and very erect penis.

Tyson felt his own cock stiffen even more at the sight of Elliot's delicious naked body. Immediately he began the process of baring his own lower half. He could feel Elliot's hungry blue eyes on him the entire time while he was doing this.

"Now what?" Tyson nervously asked. "I've never done this with a dude before."

"Now you fuck my ass," Elliot said as he slowly turned away from Tyson and bent over making himself completely available to Tyson.

This is insane Tyson concluded. They were certainly asking for trouble by deciding to be this intimate in such a dangerous place, yet at the same time there was something extremely erotic about chancing this encounter in a place were they could both lose their lives at any moment.

"You got it," Was the only verbal response Tyson gave as he took the necessary few steps to reach Elliot. Once close enough, he firmly grabbed Elliot by his lean hips and pulled him closer, before slowly sliding into Elliot's tight ass. Elliot arched his back while this was happening and said something incoherent as Tyson continued until he was fully inside Elliot before he started thrusting. He started slowly and lightly at first amazed and afraid at how wonderful it felt to be inside of Elliot. Gradually he increased his speed and force as he began to let go of his initial shock and fear and surrendered to the pleasure. Elliot responded by moving with Tyson's rhythms while stroking his own hard cock at the same time. Both men had their eyes closed as they moved as one, moaning and grunting their pleasure. Losing track of time they continued like this before Tyson climaxed shooting his load into Elliot's ass. Seconds later Elliot also let loose his own load with a whole lot of profanity laced verbals.

"That was awesome man," Tyson said a smile of extreme pleasure on his strong face.

"Hell fucking yeah," Elliot replied while smiling uncontrollably.

The only thing that diverted their attention from one another was the sound of a helicopter above.

"Shit," I bet that's Rhodes," Tyson said as he quickly got dressed.

"Probably," Elliot said as he also hurriedly dressed.

Once both of the two were dressed Tyson said, "Come here," he didn't wait for Elliot to respond as he pulled with younger man towards him. Once he had Elliot in his arms he planted a long, firm kiss on his lips.

"We can't get too carried away," Elliot said through a pant. "We don't wanna blow our chances of getting back to the world."

"Of course not," sighed Tyson as he reluctantly let Elliot go.

Tyson turned on his radio, "Tyson to Rhodes. What's your position?"

"I'm above the roof of the Continental Hotel. Where the fuck are you guys?"

"On our way up," Tyson replied.

As Tyson sat beside Elliot in the helicopter he knew that things would never be the same between the two of them again and he was glad. They were on the path to something wonderful.

While Tyson was thinking this Elliot couldn't help but sit beside him with a self satisfied smile. He had been able to disclose the truth about the only thing that had previously created a wedge between Tyson and himself without even uttering the words. He had revealed this secret by completely surrendering his body to Tyson. The result was that Tyson had accepted him unflinchingly. This gave him an optimistic outlook regarding their future together.


End file.
